South Florida hosted two Startup Weekends this weekend. Here is the first dispatch -- from Startup Weekend in Boca Raton (Boca's inaugural SW) by guest blogger Deb Griffith.

By Deb Griffith

Day #1

It’s 6 pm on a Friday night, and where is the best place to be in Boca? The College of Business atFAU probably isn’t your first guess. But you’d be wrong, and here’s why.

Friday, October 12 was Day 1 of the first Startup Weekend Boca event, hosted at FAU’s Adam Center for Entrepreneurship and sponsored locally by the Enterprise Development Corporation's Technology Business Incubator in the Research Park at FAU. Startup Weekend is a 54-hour event that brings together coders, developers and business innovators to create, conceive and build a new business idea, all in the scope of just a weekend.

Friday evening brought together nearly 100 participants that networked, motivated one another and pitched ideas for projects to develop. Of the 30 ideas floated, 10 were voted on and teams were formed. Oh yes, and then we adjourned for cocktails, inspiration and ping-pong!

Day #2

Saturday morning, 9:00 am. Came a little early, after all that, uh, ping-pong. But the 10 teams started to gel, build and refine their products. One developer even stayed until 4:30 am – that’s dedication! The magic has begun!

Thank you to the sponsors, judges and mentors who so generously lent their time, expertise, products and cold hard cash to make the event work: New Frontier Nomads, Research Park at Florida Atlantic University, Enterprise Development Corporation, FAU Adams Center for Entrepreneurship, EarlyShares, The Reef, Christopher and Weisberg, Business Partners, SmartWater and 5 Hour Energy.

Deb Griffith is a self-proclaimed Startup Weekend junkie, having participated in the winning team from Startup Weekend Miami 2010 and a 2-time organizer. She hopes to travel the world spreading the gospel of Startup Weekend.